Digimon Aventure Tri: Convalescence
by metalgear
Summary: A Rewrite/Reboot of the fourth Digimon Adventure Tri movie, Loss. After the Digital World is rebooted, the DigiDestined try to reconnect with their partners. But when Agent Himekawa's deception is exposed, they realize their job isn't over. Who is she really working with? Can Meicoomon be saved from her infection? And what REALLY happened to the other DigiDestined?
1. Reboot

_**Hi everyone, thank you for checking out my latest story! Digimon Adventure was one of my favorite shows growing up and the original DigiDestined were always my favorite. You can imagine how excited I was when they announced a followup after 15 years! I really enjoyed the last three movies, but Loss (** **Sōshitsu** **in the Japanese version) is where the series started to unravel for me, and the last two films were just very disappointing for me. I felt the first three films had so much potential, and I've tried my hand writing fanfiction before so...I decided to give it a try, rewriting the rest of Digimon Adventure Tri to the standard I hoped for...and hopefully, what many of you hoped for too.**_

 ** _So, our story begins with the last scene in Confession and continues through the events of Loss (the fourth film). Some scenes you'll recognize if you've seen the movie while others are different, but I tried to write this story so that someone who hasn't seen any of the movies can at least understand it. Digimon was a big part of my childhood, and I know many of you are as passionate about it as I was, so after one last disclaimer - I don't own Digimon Adventure or the Tri movies, I'm just a fan - *shudders* here we go..._**

* * *

 **Loss Part 1: Reboot**

 _Interesting place...I chose for a nap._

 _A long nap too, going by how long it took my eyes to open._ I woke up on my stomach, lying on fresh soil and surrounded by lush green grass. I tried standing up on two feet, but I still felt so groggy. I felt as if I had been sleeping for a long time, but everything about wherever I was seemed brand new. The stream flowing past me looked so clear that I could drink the water right from it. The air and the sky too... _well, they were clear except the big white fluffy clouds up above_. _They looked like I could eat them for dessert._

The forest nearby looked so much like the one we used to live in...but I knew it wasn't the same. _Home was wherever she -_ right at that moment, I wish I had dessert to distract me from my pounding head. _It felt like someone had tried to open it up and rip out all my memories, but stopped halfway and left them all jumbled inside._ I was having a hard time trying to remember exactly who SHE was. Such a hard time that the next thing I knew, I had just kicked a really big rock with my foot. Hard.

"OWWW!" My balance suddenly got a whole lot better as I reached for my claws and hobbled on one foot. "MY - "

 _Mei! That was her name! And mine too...Meicoomon. Why did it take me so long to remember?_

I crawled to the stream on all fours, thinking a drink might not be such a bad idea after all. _That explained why this world felt so different to me...this WAS the Digital World, where we all came from, but I stayed with Meiko ever since she was small. Well actually, I was always smaller, but not by as much back then._

I kept trying to remember more while I stared into my reflection in the water. _Everyone kept saying how much I looked like a 'cat', an animal in her world that some humans kept in their houses too. I guess animals that looked something like me, with fluffy orange-and-white coats and pointy ears, were more commonly seen than what some other Digimon looked like. Other than that, I never fully got the comparison: I didn't see many cats with white manes, and maybe green eyes were common but Meiko's dad pointed out that cross-shaped pupils weren't. And then there were what Meiko once called my 'scarf-like arms'...'arm' didn't sound like the right word, but I could use them like a scarf when it was cold outside._

I stood up on my hind legs again, but I almost fell on my back when I thought I saw blood dripping from my claws into the stream. _No, that was just a bit of mud. But it did remind me of..._

 _"LET MEICOOMON GO!"_

I gasped and looked around for the deep, scary voice that just growled my name. _No, I hadn't really heard it...it was just inside my head. But it was so loud. And then, I could hear other voices screaming..._

 _"Leomon!"_

"NNNOOO!"

 _Something killed him...I...I could see my claw plunging through his chest. But it wasn't me. He was our friend! I didn't...I couldn't have...but then I heard more voices:_

"MEI, NO!"

 _"It's turned into a monster!"  
_  
This time, I did land on my back after turning back to my reflection and thinking I saw a violet aura surrounding me. _No, I was imagining all these things because I was scared! I remembered...I got sick, but I'd never hurt my friends, or Meiko! W_ _hoever tried to erase my memories before, maybe they were also trying to make me remember doing things that I never did!_

Meiko! She'd know how to help me! She always knew, I had to find her! She wouldn't leave me in the Digital World all by myself -

 _That whistle!_ I jumped up at the sound of it, because I knew that was no Digimon. _I heard it before, in the human world! They loved making things that made all kinds of noise! I had to follow it..._

* * *

After racing through the shrubs, I was disappointed to see from across the lake that it was a tiny Digimon blowing on it, though the whistle itself didn't look like it came from here. _There wasn't just ONE little Digimon hanging out there..._. _there were eight now, mostly bouncing heads without any limbs. Maybe that's why everything about the Digital World felt so new...somebody had reset everything somehow. They played and bickered with each other like they had just hatched. But why didn't the same thing happen to me?_

The little Digimon hid themselves away when the tall walking monsters that had been watching them for a while made their move. _Well, they didn't like being called monsters...I learned they went by a couple different names depending on what part of their world they lived on, but 'human' was what they all went by. They were humans too, just like Meiko...I could tell because they all looked the same from a distance unless you knew what to look for. The best way you could tell was by how they styled their head fur, and the second-best way was to recognize the different rags they wore - I think they were called 'clothes'? I never really understood why humans liked walking around in that stuff, unless humans also had a hard time telling each other apart. I remembered that Meiko would spend a lot of time in the mornings just trying to decide what color rags to put on when she went out where others could see her._

"Look at all of you!" One of the humans approached the group of Digimon just when I came close enough to hear exactly what they were saying. _He looked really familiar to me, even if he wasn't someone I knew very well._ He was the least-kempt one out of all of them. Most humans seemed to put a lot more thought into how they groomed their head fur, but seemed to be OK with his brown spiky hair flying all over the place and he also had these things called 'goggles' dangling carelessly around his neck. "It's great to see you again."

 _Meiko. This group reminded me so much of her._ But the other Digimon acted like they didn't know them. _Any of them. None of the eight across from me_. I pulled myself away for a bit, only glancing back when I heard one of the Digimon scream something about not wanting to be eaten. But even though I counted eight of each, I thought... _could one of them be Meiko? Even if I wasn't sure, maybe those humans knew her!_ When I changed my mind and turned myself back around, I could see the little Digimon WERE starting to trust them. Seeing that, and seeing the humans sharing food instead of trying to eat them, made me feel warm and fuzzy inside like I did before. _And I remembered where: when they welcomed me and Meiko into their group after they saved us! I DID know these humans, and their partners too. They WERE our friends!_ _  
_  
Just when I started feeling happy again, I moved in closer to look around for Meiko. I could never forget what SHE looked like; her long raven-colored hair, or those red rectangle-shaped she wore even when she cracked them. But she was nowhere to be seen, and I was way too shy to go up there and ask. _What if I was wrong, and these people didn't know Meiko at all? Their own Digimon sound just as confused as I am -_

 _The reboot. I remembered one of the humans who used to look after me and Meiko said something about a "reboot." Just the sound of the word made me think about how new this world was, and why the humans were trying to make friends with their Digimon partners all over again...everything had been reset._

 _And it was because of something I did._

Thinking that made me feel sick again. _I couldn't remember what I did, but something told me that it wouldn't matter to Meiko, or to her human friends. I knew...I just knew...that this was all my fault. Because I had gotten sick...and I should have been reset too, just like all the other Digimon, but I wasn't. They'd never trust me now...and they wouldn't help me find Meiko. If she wanted to find me, she'd be there with them!_

"Alright, whoever you are!" _The boy with the goggles...he must have heard me. I knew I should have run off sooner. He didn't sound happy at all now._ "Show yourself!"

 _They ALL knew I was there now. I could have run but I just buried my eyes into my paws and sobbed until he saw me. I wanted him to blame me, tell me all this was my fault and I ruined everything and I didn't deserve to see Meiko again. But he just froze there and said my name..._

"Meicoomon?!"

I lowered my paws from my eyes, even though tears were still coming.

"You guys know this Digimon?" _The Digimon had followed him too, even though none of them remembered me._

"No way!" _But the humans did. They WERE Meiko's friends!_ "And she's still in her champion level!"

"Mei! Where's Mei?" _I felt even worse about being so selfish, crying out for MY partner when theirs didn't even remember them. But I couldn't help it, I needed to know if I really was on this planet alone without her. I thought the humans would all start yelling, but instead they gasped together in shock._

"So you remember her?" _One of the humans I remembered most asked me next, the one whose hair was a reddish-orange sort of color. Sora...her name was Sora. Her maroon eyes stared back at me._ "Meiko?"

"MEI!" I cried for her to come out from behind them, if she was hiding there somewhere. _But she wasn't. Everyone else's partner had come back for them, except mine. And now I remembered why._ I couldn't take it anymore: I ran back the way I came and jumped into the nearest tree branch. I darted from tree-to-tree trying to get away, but the boy with the goggles chased after me from the ground below.

"Meicoomon, stop!" He shouted upwards. "We only wanna help!"

 _He might have sounded like he really did want me to come with them, but I knew he really hated me. I could hear it in his voice: he was happy I was running away, just like Meiko was happy to be rid of me. I never meant for all this to happen. I just wanted to disappear..._

* * *

Someone must have granted my wish. One minute,I was dashing from tree-to-tree and the next I was on solid ground again. _But I don't remember falling, or jumping down. It was like I had jumped through one of those weird shifty field-like distortion things that drops you in another place. Sora and the boy who chased me were nowhere to be seen now. It was dark now, except for a field of flowers glowing in the twilight and reflecting the stars. They looked so pretty...flowers always helped me forget when I was sad or scared, at least for a little while._

There was another Digimon up ahead, with a gray metal helmet and big blue eyes, already picking them. He was about my size. I meant to leave him to it, and find my own patch to play in, but a human laugh stopped me. This one didn't sound like one of the others, and when I saw her running towards the Digimon, I noticed she looked older. Her hair was short, almost as short as a human boy's, and she was dressed differently too, wearing one of those things humans called a 'business suit'.

"Tapirmon! I finally found you!" _Other than looking different, she acted just like she knew him too. But if he was someone's partner, I was sure I didn't remember them._

"Hmmm?" And just like I imagined the others did back there, Tapirmon faced the human and tilted his head, looking confused.

The human woman clutched her heart - _at least, I think human hearts go in the same place? -_ as if it just split in two. But she knelt down and put her arms around his shoulders in a big hug."Aren't you glad to see me too? We're together again! I missed you so much!"

"Are you a...human?" When Tapirmon asked, she pulled away from him a bit and reflected his blank stare. _What they looked like was common knowledge, even around here, but I guessed that wasn't why._

"Uh...I am! And I'm your partner! We're a team!" She said it smiling, but even from where I was standing, I could see a bead of sweat drip from the side of her head..

"No we're not!" Tapirmon backed away, clutching his flowers even more tightly. Her arms were still stretched out as if she was still hugging him, even as he ran away from her. "I don't know you and I don't want to! Now leave me alone!"

"Tapirmon!" He did turn back when she called him by name again. And then... _something about her changed._ This time, she walked towards him a lot more slowly. "You may not remember me yet, or believe that we're partners...but it's true all the same!" Just the way she said it creeped me out, and then she grabbed Tapirmon by the shoulders...and started shaking him. "And now that I've found you, I'll NEVER LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

"HEY!" _Maybe I wasn't very smart, calling to her like that, but I had to do something to help that Digimon. It's what Meiko would have wanted me to do...before she started hating me._ Still, I was kinda surprised when the woman did stop shaking him...and looked at me with bulging amber eyes that froze me in place.

"Meicoomon!" _SHE knew me too?!_ "You remember me, don't you? It's me, Hime!"

 _She'd calmed down a little bit while speaking to me, enough that I did recognize her voice. Himekawa! She was one of the grown-ups who looked after me and Meiko! But...she didn't look like the Himekawa I remembered, the one who picked me up and went to get me sweets. This Himekawa...looked more like a monster._ "I looked after you and Meiko, remember? Tell Tapirmon you know me!"

 _It didn't sound like she was asking me...she was TELLING me. I remembered seeing THIS Himekawa once before...when she threw_ _her arm up in front of two other humans who were supposed to be watching me and told them "no. No outsiders."_ Then I saw her reach for something hidden under the side of her suit and heard a clicking sound. _I noticed there was a cylinder sticking out from under the side of her jacket. She tucked something under there...a human gun. I heard Himekawa say something else to the humans she worked with while she was with me and Meiko...something about them "modifying" their tools to shoot electricity at Digimon who weren't supposed to be in their world. I never thought Himekawa would test one of those things on me...but she looked more like a monster right now._

"TELL HIM!"

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** There it is, my first chapter! I stuck fairly close to the movie with this one (ending of Confession through the start of Loss) though with a key difference. I thought about including a "how it happened in the movie" section to share what's different, though I'm a little worried about spoiling it for those who haven't seen. I'd like to hear if you think adding that section is a good idea.

From what I've read, I don't think first-person Digimon stories are all that common so that might have caught you off-guard, though if you've read my other stuff you've probably noticed I have a lot of fun putting you guys in different characters' heads. I liked the mystery over who the narrator might be, and I think we're so used to the show focusing on the DigiDestined I thought it would be fun to see more of the Digimon's side of the story (even if it's trickier!) I know Meiko and Meicoomon are a bit polarizing as some fans understandably felt they stole screentime away from the characters we came back for, but she seemed like the most interesting choice to start telling the story here. She may not narrate the whole thing as covering the whole movie means some switching is necessary, and we may see one of the DigiDestined tell it once in a while...but I do think Meicoomon's an interesting character, and she's a favorite of mine going forward.

I have other plans for how things might change (I admit I don't remember the Adventure 02 kids very well, but even I feel the movies handled their absence very poorly), and I'd be happy to share with anyone who's interested. For now, I just want to say: thank you so much for reading this through to the end! I hope you'll let me know how I did on my first try :)


	2. Recurrence

**Loss Part 2: Recurrence**

 _The whole time Hime looked out for me and Meiko, I never thought she would threaten me. Meiko's mom used to say that "some people aren't just cat people." I wasn't sure though whether she meant that some humans didn't like cats, or that there were humans who looked more like cats than I did and I just never met any. Sometimes I wondered if Meiko's dad was one of those aren't-just-cat-people...as in, a human who doesn't like cats although I did catch Meiko's dad shaving off face-fur one morning. I really struggled over whether I should tell her that we might be related. But I knew THOSE people didn't like me. Seeing Himekawa acting crazy and turning on me for no reason, that scared me..._

"Your eyes!" Hime pulled her hand away from the cylinder thing she had hidden away in her jacket, just when the flowers around us stopped glowing for a little bit after a dark purple wave of energy rippled through the field...and I was at the center of it. "The reboot didn't work! You still carry the infection, Meicoomon!"

"What's happening to me?!" I felt like every single cloud in the Digital World had gathered around me and was striking me with lightning, until my fangs and claws grew longer and I saw red everywhere I looked. Tapirmon dropped the last of the flowers he gathered earlier and was trembling as he backed away from me. I wanted to tell him it was still me, the same Digimon who wanted to help him earlier, but only hisses and growls came out. Seeing him afraid of me made ME feel more afraid, and I felt like something else was taking over...

"I'll protect you, Tapirmon." Seeing Himekawa stretch her hand out towards him, making ME look like I was the monster, was enough to bring me back to this world. _Look at her! SHE'S the one whose eyes look all crazy!_ "You and me...we're the only ones who can save the world. Just like we did before, as partners..."

"There's no way we were ever friends!" Tapirmon fled from her - _from us -_ as fast as the wispy haze where legs usually went carried him. Himekawa reached out for him...and without thinking, I just lunged. My over-sized claws just grazed her shoulders, not even tearing her human clothes, but I still knocked her on her back. _I wouldn't feel safe until I ripped her apart, though._ Himekawa didn't reach for her human gun: she shielded herself with her arms but raised her open palms towards me. It was like she was begging, pleading for me to stop. But I felt like it wasn't my choice to make. Someone else was protecting me, since Meiko wasn't here too. _And I would only feel safe after this witch was torn to shreds._

There was enough of me still watching to know what I saw wasn't quite right, but that's not what finally brought me to stop. It was an explosion so ginormous, it sent Himekawa and I flying backwards in opposite directions. And then I saw a huge crater where all the pretty flowers were before. _"Scared" wasn't what I felt the most anymore...or if I still was, I was more sad that I couldn't even find a petal._ I went frantic trying to find SOME reminder of the pretty patch that was just just here, and I felt myself return to normal size in the meantime. _I felt like...me, again. It wasn't as weird a feeling as I thought it would be, like I had done this before, but I didn't remember until just now..._

"I admire your enthusiasm, Meicoomon!" A gruff man-sounding voice made me pause my search. The main culprit behind the killing of those pretty flowers made the whole DigiWorld shake with each step, but it didn't look like that voice belonged to the giant machine monster with even sharper teeth and claws than I had. Jumping off the metal Digimon's massive forehead - the one I recognized as Machinedramon - was another kinda scrawny human who looked closer in age to the others than Himekawa. Unlike my friends... _ex-friends, maybe..._ this boy wore a whole lot of stuff I never saw any human wear at the same time before. _His choice of costume was weirder than the googly-eyed bug-eye things that the boy Meiko secretly liked kept around his neck, or even compared to the tall girl who was really nice to me but still had really weird ideas about stuff to wear. I think we called her "Mimi?"_

This human's hair was all spiky, just like the boy Meiko secretly liked, except his was dark blue. And also unlike the boy Meiko secretly liked, this one actually wore his googly eyes on his face - _I guess it helped they were thinner_. He covered most of himself up with this darkish-colored coat that had a bit of yellow and red, and he wore a cape on his back. _I think he dressed like this because he wanted to look like a butterfly?_ Something told me I should have been more scared of him... _he was familiar somehow, and not in a good way._

The creepy grin he gave me after he landed on his feet did just that. "But Himekawa and I made a deal. Save that destructive potential for the rest of this world!"

"Think...twice...about this." _Himekawa, trying to make herself sound like the lesser monster._ I couldn't help snarling at her.

The guy dressed as a butterfly looked at her all stony-faced. _He didn't look impressed by her_. "You won't like the swim if you let Tapirmon get too far ahead. I suggest you catch up soon. He went that way." Butterfly guy pointed the way for her and she raced down the path, forgetting all about me.

"Now you see what they're like when they're older." I wished then his googly eyes weren't see-through, because the human eyes behind them looked just like Himekawa's."I thought they were all sweet and innocent when they were children. Then I learned more about them...and how much better off we'll all be once we untether our world from theirs!"

 _Maybe this guy wanted to scare me. I couldn't let what happened earlier happen again..._ "Dressing up like a butterfly won't turn you into one. At least I don't think humans can do that?"

"I suppose the metaphor's fitting, as much as I don't appreciate being called one of them." He snarled at me as well as any Digimon. _And made as little sense as some of them too._ Then he motioned with his hand for Machinedramon to come a little closer. _NOW he looked a whole lot scarier._ Machinedramon towered over both of us and creaked as he inched forward. Then he ripped a tree straight out of the ground and crushed it in its claw as easily as a pawful of sand. He leveled the two big gray cylinders on his back at me. They were way bigger than the one Himekawa tucked away under her coat, but they looked like they did the same exact thing. And I could hear them and roaring to life...

"Not that I mind our chat, but I need you back as you were a minute ago." _Butterfly guy just looked straight-up cheerful standing right in front of Machinedramon's guns! I wish I could be that brave, even if I know it's mostly because he's the one in charge._ "You think anyone in this world cares how frightened you are, Meicoomon? Do you think anyone one Earth cares how scared Tapirmon is, or how terrified every other Digimon will be when they find out there are BILLIONS of humans waiting to enslave them just like the DigiDestined enslave THEIR Digimon?!"

 _Meiko. I just wanted Meiko._ I wished I could remember the last time I saw her. Know why she abandoned me here. And then I felt it, saw it again. The answer to my question...how I caused all this. _My Digimon friends...all with blank purple eyes and covered in purple static, turning on each other one at a time until there was just one left...and he was holding me, dragging all of us back through what the really chatty smart human called a distortion. And then it happened...the reboot. They were just flashes, I didn't feel like they were mine, but they told me...it WAS me everyone tried so hard to stop. And butterfly guy...he wanted me to hurt them all over again._ _Except his name wasn't Butterfly Guy. I remembered what the others called him, and when I first saw him..._

"NO!"

"GAAAAH!" He - _Ken -_ clutched the side of his face after I slashed his cheek on purpose. Ken grit his teeth, blood dripping between his gloved fingers, and then his face...glitched. _It was like he'd been wearing a phony digital face on top of the real cheek that my claws tore through._ But even if Machinedramon wasn't going to blast me away as long as I was standing in front of his master, I remembered enough about "Ken" to know sticking around was an even worse idea. I dropped to all four paws and high-tailed it away from them as fast as I could.

"DON'T!" I heard Ken yell to the giant metal dragon aiming at my back. I looked back and saw he wasn't aiming at anything near me, so I slunk back into the grass just close enough to hear what they were saying. Ken - _if he really was the same guy my human friends new -_ was still wearing that really ugly smirk along with the rest of his butterfly costume. "Let her run! Does she think the DigiDestined or Homeostasis will save her? Destroying the world is what she was born to do!"

 _The one who destroys the world...if Meiko and all my friends thought the same thing about me, who else DID I have? It was almost enough to make me not want to run away from this guy._ I left the grass to find an endless stretch of desert waiting for me. _Not the yummy kind, the dry and sandy kind that doesn't taste good at all._ I only walked up a couple of steps before I looked up to where I imagined the human world was...

"Meiko...how could you leave me in this horrible place?"

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, in the Real World...**_

"My Mei..."

 _How long had I been sitting here in front of the police lines, staring down at my Digivice, wishing it and Meicoomon would just go back to the way they were? Every day and night, ever since you killed Leomon right in front of me._ I finally looked up at the Pavilion, still closed to the public and in desperate need of repairs a week after the last battle. _Even remembering the time you left claw-shaped marks of blood on my shirt when I picked you up for a hug, or when I came to visit you in the lab and saw it looked like a war zone...saw my father bleeding...you always went back to being so gentle, so innocent. Maybe I thought that if we were always together, if you could always come back to me, then we could just ignore it and stay friends for the rest of our lives. Seeing you become a monster...would that be my last memory of you, Mei?_

As if I hoped taking my eyes off the Digivice for two seconds would lead to a miracle, my eyes darted right back to it. My Digivice was still pitch black, the buttons still blood red, the screen still possessed by an X-shaped DNA pattern. _The reboot was supposed to be a fresh start for everyone...what if the others' Digimon had sacrificed their memories for nothing? What if Meicoomon was still suffering?_ "Are you somewhere crying, my little Mei? I wish I could help you."

"Meiko. I came by your apartment, and I tried calling." Mr. Nishijima, Tai and Sora's teacher, appeared behind me in his business suit. _The others said Tai couldn't believe his eyes when he first saw it. Mr. Nishijima looked so disheveled and unassuming, walking around in shorts at school. He looked so handsome when he wore it, like an older Tai. Errr, not that Tai wasn't usually - I mean, Mr. Nishijima's objectively good-looking and arguably looks like an older Tai, that doesn't mean I also think - no wonder I avoided bringing up Tai in front of Meicoomon, she would have gotten the idea I liked him or something even worse! For all the good knowing what she would have thought about it did now..._

 _As if I hadn't made Mr. Nishijima spend enough time waiting on me_. _Almost as long as I had probably been sitting here - the sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon._ I folded my hands and bowed. "I'm sorry I worried you - "

"You don't need to apologize, Meiko. Hime doesn't leave time for anyone else to make me do anything," he laughed. _It was sweet how close he and Himekawa were. Besides Meicoomon, I never really had that before I met the other DigiDestined._ "It's still my job to look after you. At least I still have one. I tried telling the other DigiDestined that going back to the Digital World was too dangerous, but Hime overruled me on that one. She hasn't called me since then, oddly enough..."

 _So I got here too late. I knew I should have gone with them, but I felt so guilty for everything that happened. I still did._ "They left without me. Not that I blame them - "

"Meiko. You need to stop blaming yourself." Nishijima took hold of both my shoulders. "So many of us tried to help Meicoomon: me, your father, Hime, all of your friends and their partner Digimon too. If there had been another way, we would have found it. And I know Meicoomon wouldn't blame you either."

"She'd want the same thing the other Digimon want!" _I hated crying so much. I felt like all I ever did since Meicoomon killed Leomon was cry._ "To have her best friend still in her life, even if it means starting over!"

"I know a lot of people have told you that they understand how you feel, that most of them don't. So don't tell Hime I told you this...we both lost our closest friends when we were kids." I couldn't avoid gasping out loud when he told me that. _Hime too...I had no idea._ "I think that's how we stayed close. I didn't think I could take this job at the Agency, going undercover to watch you and your partner Digimon. I feared it would reopen our wounds...but instead, seeing you reminded us we had good times with our friends too. And we could both learn to be happy again."

I gave him the biggest hug I could. "I'll try to move on...for her. Thank you, Nishi."

"Let's...stick to full names. Hime works but...no, not Nishi." He made me laugh for the first time in a week too. But past Nishijima's shoulder, I saw that the Pavilion was no longer vacant. There was a figure, a small figure wearing a fluttering red cape and hiding his face behind a white dragon-shaped mask, balancing atop a beam at a dangerous height. _He was too small to be a person..._

"Mr. Nishijima, did you notice that Digimon watching us?" I asked. The agent swiveled around impressively fast, but whoever was spying on us vanished even faster. "You and Hime were both here when the others went back, right? The portal should still be closed."

"It is. That could be lack of sleep or dehydration talking." _I didn't blame him for not believing me. I was starting to wonder if I imagined it myself, until the Digimon appeared out of thin air again._

"No, there!" I pointed swift as I could. The Digimon was perched on a higher beam this time. Nishijima assured me that I wasn't losing my mind when he threw his arm in front to guard me.

"HQ, this is Nishijima!" He pushed a button on his collar that gave off a small green light. "I have a confirmed Digimon sighting at the Pavilion. Yes, I know what I saw!"

The Digimon kept disappearing and reappearing in different spots, as if it was taunting us. "He's like a hungry shark circling us," I couldn't help saying out loud.

Mr. Nishijima drew an oversized handgun from the holster around his hip. _His agency was tasked with keeping an eye on us AND out-of-control Digimon, so maybe it was a special weapon._ "This could be the Digimon we've caught on surveillance before. He's left us a few cryptic messages and we did snap a few images of a cloaked figure lurking around your apartment. But he never stuck around long enough for us to catch him."

 _I wasn't sure which should creep me out more: that Meicoomon and I had a Digimon stalker, or that Nishijima and Hime's agency had extra pictures of us._ But the bigger problem at the moment was our mystery stalker appearing on one of the Pavillion floors before vanishing completely. Nishijima and I kept backing up slowly, but a long time passed without the Digimon making another appearance.

"We'll make a run for my truck!" Nishijima called out after pointing his gun at every corner of the Pavilion. But the second Nishijima brought up making a run for it, the Digimon appeared again...just across from him. I barely had time to squeak before the Dragon-like Digimon raised its armored tail like a scorpion about to strike. And strike he did, rotating his tail like a drill and hurtling it our way. Nishijima pushed me out of the way in time, but the armored monster swung its tail lower and tripped him.

"HQ, Professor Mochizuki's daughter is with me! The Digimon is attacking us!" Nishijima seized on the chance to make a quick cry for help and pointed his handgun at the mini-dragon, but before he could get one shot off, its armored tail crashed directly to his head. I saw Nishijima's gun fly out of his hands, while his unconscious head tilted over to the side.

"Don't kill him!" I almost got close enough to throw myself on top of Nishijima, but the iron glare from the creature's cold golden eyes sapped me of whatever courage briefly possessed me. A pair of goggles embedded in his cape rippled in the wind behind him. The digital monster was distracted by the sound of Nishijima's communicator device coming to life, though not to the point I dared to make a run for it...

"Possible Agent down at the Pavilion! The Special Assault Team has been notified, Priority Asset DD-9 in jeopardy! Repeat, all available personnel report - "

"Run." The Digimon growled a single word in a deep voice, opening his mouth towards the Pavilion as he said that. _It was as if he was telling me which way to run..._ besides giving me a direction, he didn't have to say the rest twice. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me - _I'd done enough running to last a lifetime in the past week -_ before he caught up and tackled me through the building. I tumbled through glass, and he dragged me inside by my neck collar with one claw before coming back down on all fours. But, in a slightly less intimidating voice than the one he used before - only slightly less - he opened his very sharp-fanged mouth to speak to me.

"I'm not here to hurt you. You seek to open a gateway to our world. We can help you open one, if you agree to work with us. But do not tell anyone about our arrangement, not yet."

"We?" _Why would he be interested in helping me get back to the Digital World? Or in Meicoomon?_ "Who are you?"

"You may call me...Hackmon. Homeostasis believes you will lead us to the Libra, but that is only part of my mission. Gennai is no longer your ally. He has been feeding tainted information to your government. He has convinced your "agency" that I am an enemy. They have made reconnaissance very difficult."

"The other DigiDestined...said Gennai took care of them," I recalled. _They always spoke so highly of him for looking after them when they were kids._ "Why - "

"There isn't enough time. Your questions about who we are and who your enemy is will be answered in the Digital World soon enough." _That was it, then. No asking him about Homeostasis, either._ "By sprinkling the waters of the Dark Ocean upon your Digivice, and through the power of your Digital Crest, you can also open the gateway. But you must move quickly, and you must never drop your Digivice into the Ocean should you find yourself there."

"But I don't have a Digital Crest, and I don't like the sound of - " I cut myself off with a gasp when Hackmon dropped my Digivice - _which I didn't remember turning over to him in the first place -_ back on to my lap _._ I noticed little drops on my Digivice's screen before it started pulsing white and took the shape of a glowing egg. _Maybe...maybe my fears about the "Dark Ocean" were misplaced. Who cared what it was called, if it meant I could bring Meicoomon home? But Hackmon had said giving me this power would come at a price..._

"So what do you want from me in return for this?" My question was drowned off by the whirring of rapidly-approaching helicopter blades, followed by sirens in the distance surrounding us. _The backup that Nishijima had called for earlier was here, but I heard they didn't have any luck the last time they tried to take down a Digimon without our help. Would they have any more luck with Hackmon?_

"You've already given it." Hackmon gave me a belated, cryptic answer. _I suppose he didn't think so either._ But that wasn't his last word. "I promise no harm will come to your father either, as long as you keep silent about our agreement."

"Wait, what do you have planned for my father?!" I asked. _But the time for answers had run out, as Nishijima's speaker-amplified voice echoed through the abandoned Pavilion._

"Unidentified Digimon! This is Management Officer Level Two, Daigo Nishijima! I work for the National Data Processing Bureau, Information and Communication Strategy - "

"Just say government agent!" I screamed. _I couldn't help it; Mr. Nishijima's business card was longer than the Bushido Code._ But he must not have been as far away as he made it sound, because a loud sigh followed the unexpected silence.

"I'm a government agent." _Oh no, he sounded pretty ticked off._ I almost shouted out an apology, but then I remembered that Hackmon wanted me to play hostage. "If you release the girl now, I promise we will let you return to your world unharmed."

Hackmon tilted his head toward the noise of helicopter rotors. Then he did something reckless - he backed away then leaped towards me with his claws reaching for my neck. The next thing I heard a loud crack, and a clear blue streak shattered the window beside Hackmon. _He gave whoever was on that helicopter an easy shot._ And they had a good sniper up there too, because what I guessed was an electromagnetic shot sent Hackmon flying to the side. My heart skipped thinking they might have killed him, but the shot left him convulsing and reeling on the floor. Then Nishijima himself barged through the door, oversized gun drawn and two soldiers in uniform flanking his sides.

"Stay down, Meiko!" He shouted to me. Hackmon recovered just in time to stare the three of them down. Just when it looked like they had him cornered, Hackmon spewed flaming breath from his mouth in their direction. The agents threw up their arms to shield themselves from the fire, and Hackmon jumped on the opportunity to make his getaway. _He sure ran like he was a pro at getaways, weaving so whoever was on that helicopter couldn't get an easy shot. But Hackmon must have known he wouldn't get very far on foot, not with all the sounds we heard just a minute ago._

"Quick! Deploy the taser shockwave!" Nishijima shouted into his collar button. I vaulted over the window to see a military vehicle leap over the stairs leading to the Expo and park itself right in front of Hackmon, just when he was about to dart into a city alley. Mounted on top of that vehicle were three stacks of what looked like square missiles. I saw hints that Hackmon was on the verge of Digivolving, his form starting to glow, before the stack on top of the vehicle revealed itself to be an entire line of tasers. They covered such a wide arc that there was no way Hackmon could have dodged them all - at least half a dozen wires pierced his armored skin and left him crumpled to the ground following the cackled hiss of electricity surging through his body. The doors of the vehicle were flung open by two soldiers, rushing to Hackmon's side and pointing their oversized rifles at his head. _I guess they thought they couldn't be too careful...even knowing that, if they media had seen them doing this to a person..._

"We got him!" _I doubted that Hackmon was higher than Champion Level, but stopping a Digimon without DigiDestined help was still cause for the soldier to celebrate._ "Digimon in custody, hostage is secure!"

"MEIKO! ARE YOU HURT?" I shook my head 'no' as Nishijima rushed up to me in his now-tattered suit. My eyes were still glued to Hackmon, still at the mercy of the paranoid agents who kept their taser wires buried in his armor. Nishijima must have seen that it upset me, because he looked a bit shaken himself. "I know it looks painful, but another jolt is the only thing we know that will keep him from Digivolving until we get him to your father's lab. He'll look after it personally."

"Hackmon. His name's Hackmon." I bit my tongue to keep myself from telling him more. _We had a deal...but now I knew why Hackmon promised he'd spare my father. Even if he had talked with Nishijima first, Nishijima wouldn't have just let Hackmon poke around their Digimon lab, and I knew my father would be reluctant after his experiment with Meicoomon nearly led to all this happening six years earlier. About the only thing that would make him consider a personal interview...was threatening his daughter. Dad would want to know what Hackmon's interest was. And Hackmon only promised he would spare him. What about the other guards and scientists in the lab? Maybe...maybe it wasn't worth the risk just for Meicoomon.  
_  
"Mr. Nishijima...is what they're doing to Hackmon really necessary?" I asked, maybe more to get my mind on something else while I waited for the answer to come for me. "He doesn't deserve this kind of treatment."

"I'm not sure I fully agree with that. They'd rather be safe than sorry later." Nishijima sounded colder than usual, clutching his shoulder. _If Hackmon wanted Nishijima's help too, he just made his job a lot harder._ Still, Tai and Sora's teacher did peek out from under that government agent face he wore. "But maybe this is too much. I'll talk to the Captain."

I saw Nishijima motion to two other suited agents to keep an eye on me while he went for a chat with the military commander. Angling my back so they couldn't see it, I reached into my pocket. I felt... _I could almost hear Mei calling to me through the Digivice. Begging me to come. She had no other friends besides me before that fateful day in the forest, when I first met her, and something told me a reboot wouldn't change that. Nobody else knew her like I did, not even my father...and not even the other DigiDestined. If I saw Mei was just as happy without me, that the reboot cured her and there was no trace of infection in her eyes...maybe it would hurt more than if I stayed here, but at least I'd know for sure. I had to see her again with my own eyes. I just had to._ And Hackmon gave me the chance to slip behind the Pavilion's corner when he let out a pained roar.

"Ms. Mochizuki!" An agent did call my name just as I rounded the corner. I could see my Digivice shifting back into what it looked like before, and it felt a lot smaller in my hands. _I had to be quick...Hackmon had only sprinkled a few drops on it. He warned me never to visit the Dark Ocean, but more importantly, that I didn't have a lot of time_. It glowed brighter when I looked down to it, and the flashing screen was my hint to hold it up to the sky. _I'm sorry, Mr. Nishijima...and I'm sorry Dad. But I think Hackmon's intentions are good._ Every single agent and soldier standing in the Pavilion must have been blinded by the beam of light shooting into the sky. I smudged my glasses covering my eyes: when I cleared them, I saw the massive yellow rift swirling in the sky.

"She opened a - "

"How did she - " Everyone else in the Pavilion stood in wonder at the unbelievable taking place in front of them. The only noise was a pair of thundering footsteps coming my way. _Nishijima...I couldn't let him stop me. There was no turning back now._

"MEIKO! DON'T!" Mr. Nishijima's hand fell a bit short of yanking me away from the beam or getting caught in it himself. I hovered upwards into the sky towards the portal to the Digital World, faster and faster, until his voice was merely a whisper even as he shouted at the top of his lungs...

"MEIKO!"

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** First of all, a very big thank you to everyone who's favorited, followed, and especially reviewed my first chapter! I think the worst fear for any author is that nobody's reading, so thank you for all the little signs that show me people are!

So besides pulling away from the movie some more, I'd actually planned for a scene with the DigiDestined to come after Meicoomon's. I even thought briefly about leaving Meicoomon's part on a cliffhanger while we hung out with the original group, then come back to her later, but I decided quickly against that because I'm not such a big fan of the times the movie did it! I know we haven't seen much of the original show's characters since we started - they're definitely getting the spotlight next chapter, and I'm actually considering handing the narrative to Biyomon next time. It makes sense being the movie's largely about Sora...so if you're disappointed by the lack of the original cast, I'll try to make it up to you next time!

I also planned for Meiko's return to happen in Chapter 3, but as I got into writing it I saw it would fit better just after Meicoomon's part. I'm a little worried some of you might not have liked this chapter, because I know some fans really don't like Meiko (I found her a bit grating in the 5th movie, I admit). But I'm a fairly shy person in real life, I don't want to just write Meiko out of the story: I think she is a relatable character, and I couldn't see myself writing a story with Meicoomon that just pretends Meiko doesn't exist. One thing about Loss that kinda bothered me, at least from what I remember, is the movie didn't show how Meiko got back to the Digital World on her own. They seemed to rely heavily on distortions opening up at the most convenient times.

And Hackmon...I thought he was another interesting character that the movies didn't use much. I wanted to give him more of a part than just Homeostasis' messenger. I'm not sure if Hackmon carrying around droplets from the Dark Ocean clashes with any canon - I'm just a fan like you guys, I don't claim to be an expert on the show XD - so I hope you don't burn me at the stake for any continuity mistakes!

The next chapter may take me a while to put out as my class is going on an international trip starting Friday (in fact I'm doing a whole summer semester so I can finish in January...) This could work out really well or really badly for my writing time, but it's likely I won't be able to get on the internet much so it'll mostly be jotting notes in my notebook if I get a break. And in case you read any of my other stories, know that I don't want to abandon the other one I'm currently working on...want to get a new chapter out on that too. But don't worry about this one, I've got a good chunk of the outline already planned!

So that's all for now, time to focus on packing! I'm a little nervous how this part turned out, so don't be shy to let me know how I did either way! All feedback's welcome and GREATLY appreciated :) talk to you soon!


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